Monroe Police Department and Courts to get a new home

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The Monroe Police Department will be moving into a new building next year. The City Council is expected to vote to accept the Sizemore Group as principal design consultants for the new building that will be built on property that once housed the old Food Lion.

“As you know, we have purchased Walton Plaza and as part of that the portion of the Old Food Lion will be the new Police and Court System,” City Administrator Logan Propes said. The item was green-lighted to be placed on Tuesday’s consent agenda.

Mayor John Howard questioned whether the Police Department would have a separate entrance to the court system.

“I don’t want anyone to feel when they walk into the court that they are walking into the home team’s (location),” Howard said.

Propes assured that it would have a separate entrance for the public to enter, but that there would have to be some sort of inside connectivity for when a person who may be in police custody had to be brought into court.

Propes said the plan is to get the Sizemore Group to move forward with the design and have the building completed before mid-2019.

“The goal is to get in there by May or June of 2019. It’s an empty shell right now and is in great shape,” Propes said. There was no discussion at this time as to what the plans were for the current police department and court building on S. Broad Street.

The city purchased the old Walton Plaza at 140 Blaine Street on the east side of the city last summer with a view to relocating the Police Department and Municipal Courts. It is hoped that the move will kickstart more development and help revitalize that side of town.